We are masters of denial. We always have a cover story. Last September, when Dallas was in the throes of debate over removing a memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, one of my own great awakenings as a reporter was to the fact that Dallas apparently is home to a large population of militant monument removal fiscal hawks.

These are people who are not racist, according to them, and who say they have no feelings whatsoever about the Civil War or slavery. Their great concern in life, their cause, their noble crusade is that no Civil War memorial shall be removed at a cost one penny greater than the proper going rate for Civil War monument removals.

Who knew?

Another quote:

And lastly, for weeks after the removal finally was accomplished, the removal hawks were busy spotting all kinds of social needs, from better public schools to free mental health care, that could have been paid for with the money they felt had been squandered on the removal. One of them asked me, “How many hot meals for the elderly could have been paid for with that money?” Isn’t that wonderful? Suddenly they’re all Mother Theresa.

Look, I hope what I am saying here does not come across as making me out to be the cool guy. Sometimes we white folks do that — make fun of other white people for being racially clueless as a way of making ourselves look cool. I assure you, I suffer no such delusion. Where racial cluelessness is concerned, I think we have more than enough to go around.

I think a lot of people are recognizing these arguments for what they are. Excuses.